Comparative antiproliferative activities of wood and seeds essential oils of Juniperus oxycedrus L. against K562 human chronic myelogenous leukemia cells

Abstract

The species Juniperus oxycedrus L. is a member of Cupressaceae family. The chemical composition and antiproliferative activity of wood and seeds essential oils of J. oxycedrus, grown wild in Lebanon, were evaluated in order to investigate whether these products could be used as sources of functional compounds. The most abundant components of the seeds essential oils were α-pinene, β-myrcene, limonene and δ-cadinene, while wood oil components included δ-cadinene, cis-thujopsene, τ-muurolol, widdrol, epi-cubenol, β-caryophyllene and α-calacorene. Both wood and seeds essential oils inhibited the proliferation of K562 cell line with ic₅₀ values of 39.8±2.7 and 147.7±3.6 μg/mL, respectively. The J. oxycedrus wood oil showed erythroid differentiation of 16.0±2.0% at a concentration of 5 μg/mL, while the seeds essential oil showed erythroid differentiation of 25.0±2.8% at a concentration of 50 μg/mL.

Keywords:

• Juniperus oxycedrus L
• essential oils
• antiproliferative activity
• K562 cells
• GC–MS

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Immacolata Maresca for skilful technical assistance. This research has been supported by grant of FAR 2011, University of Ferrara, Italy.